Sony Xperia XA quick review – the most stylish mid-ranger

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Sony officially announced its brand new Xperia X lineup along with the first three Xperia X models at this year’s MWC in Barcelona, which took place in February. Back then we acquainted you with these three devices, but it was very recently that we managed to get a testing unit of the most affordable model – Xperia XA. Despite this qualification, we must note that this device is a high mid-ranger.

From the moment it was announced, Xperia XA stood out with its extremely thin side bezels, which are even thinner than those of higher-end Sony models. This is namely one of the aspects that contributes to the phone’s attractiveness. Undoubtedly, however, appearance is not the only thing Sony is counting on in this highly competitive price range, so we shall examine the remaining features of Xperia XA and put it to several tests.

If you want to learn more about Sony Xperia XA’s price and availability, you can visit the following link: http://amzn.to/29PlHyU

Contents

Video presentation

First, we would like to begin this review with a short Sony commercial that puts an emphasis on several aspects.

Design and construction

Without any doubt, Xperia XA’s design is one of its key advantages, and many users will certainly like it. The first thing that caught our attention was the thinness of the side bezels. They are barely noticeable and make this Sony model quite attractive. Additionally, its display uses a 2.5D glass which is slightly curved and creates the impression that your fingers are closer to the picture.

Taking a look at the back, it is made of matte plastic, which does not feel cheap at all. Fingerprints are almost not to be found on its surface. The design language on this side is quite simplistic – you can only observe the Xperia inscription, the main camera in the upper corner, and an LED flash below it. Perhaps it is more interesting to look at the front, where you can not only find the display with its super thin side bezels, but also the 8MP selfie camera, Sony logo, earpiece, proximity and ambient light sensors, as well as a small LED indicator. All these have been placed above the screen, and there is nothing below it.

The back may be plastic, but the side frame is made of metal. Xperia XA has a profile thickness of 7.9 mm and it weighs only 137 grams. On the right, there is the traditional small and round Power button. Below it, you can find the volume controls, which is not their typical position and you will need some time to get used to it. Further below, there is an additional hardware button with which you can quickly open the camera app and take pictures. On the left, you can observe the Nano-SIM card and microSD cards slots. Taking a look at the bottom, there have been placed the loudspeaker, the main mic, and the microUSB port for charging and data transfer. On the top, there are the headphones jack and secondary mic.

Sony is definitely proud of Xperia XA’s design and it seems there is a very good reason for this. If you do not agree yet, have a look at the video below.

Display and sound

Xperia XA is a mid-ranger, so the use of HD resolution does not come as a surprise, although most models at this price offer a Full HD resolution. We are talking about a 5-incher after all, so image quality is good even when the resolution is 1280 x 720 p. The pixel density here is approximately 294 ppi, and you can achieve best image detail by looking at the display from a distance of 30 cm or more. Also available is an IPS panel that ensures bright and saturated colors, as well as good viewing angles, although, depending on your perspective, the screen colors may appear warmer or colder (yellow or blueish). The 2.5D glass brings both premium looks as well as better protection and scratch-resistance.

Also impressing is the rich display section in the settings menu. It offers not only the standard options but also a smart backlight control. This feature automatically detects if you are holding your phone, and stays lit without you having to touch the screen. When you are not holding the device, the screen turns off according to your sleep timing. Additionally, you can choose a color mode and make them more saturated and brighter. What’s more, you can manually adjust white balance.

Sound

Xperia XA features a single loudspeaker located on the bottom. Its sound is clear and without any distortion, but the output is below the average.

Battery

As it was mentioned above, Xperia XA is only 7.9mm thick and perhaps this is why Sony has not managed to fit a decent battery inside. The capacity of the present unit is only 2300 mAh, which is a bit worrying considering the available hardware. On the other hand, MediaTek’s Pump Express+ 2.0 technology for quick charging is a very useful feature. According to Sony, 10 minutes of charging can ensure 5.5 hours of battery life. Nonetheless, we examined the battery performance in five different tests – a phone call, Wi-Fi and 3G Web browsing, video playback and 3D gaming. The settings we used were the usual – screen brightness of 120 cd/m2, Wi-Fi module turned on, 3G turned off (except the 3G Web browsing test), Bluetooth and GPS turned off.

Battery saving mode

The settings menu offers several battery saving modes. While the Stamina mode introduces several small restrictions such as lower brightness levels, the Ultra Stamina mode leaves you with only a couple basic functions – the app drawer disappears, brightness levels are decreased, and the wallpaper becomes dark. It must be also mentioned that every time you want to go back to the standard mode, the phone will restart.

Software

Xperia XA uses Android 6.0 Marshmallow in combination with Sony’s UI, which slightly changes the layout. We can say that the device operates smoothly, although occasional stuttering (when launching an app, for example) is not uncommon. We’ve already spoken about the novelties in Android 6.0 Marshmallow, and if you want to refresh your memory, you can read our review. Some of them are the new submenu “Memory” that allows you to control the RAM. Also available are smart apps control, which saves battery life, a “Do not disturb” option in the drop down menu, and others.

Pre-installed apps

Xperia XA boasts a great variety of pre-installed apps. You can make use of What’s New, which offers games, apps, music, and video at one place, giving you suggestions and options such as intuitive content search. Movie Creator, on the other hand, can be used for the creation of interesting videos with your photos, and with various effects. Sketch is an app for drawing, and TrackID can help you recognize this or that song within seconds. Additionally, Xperia Lounge provides all kinds of interesting content such as video, pictures, etc. Spotify is an app you can use for music and video streaming. Also, AVG Protection blocks viruses and other malware. You will also be presented with a weather forecast and news apps, as well as an FM radio.

Themes and wallpapers

This section presents you with a great variety of Lock screen and Home screen wallpapers, as well as a good number of downloadable themes. It’s interesting that the changes they bring are not only about wallpapers but are also related the layout of menus. You will also find several pre-installed themes.

Settings menu

Compared to the traditional, Xperia XA’s settings menu is really fresh because it features colorful icons. The screenshots below display all options present in this menu.

Accessibility

Also available is the Accessibility menu that contains options for ease of use, chiefly meant for users with health problems.

Performance

Xperia XA uses a MediaTek MT6755 Helio P10 chip. It is 64-bit and has been manufactured through a 28nm technological process. MediaTek promises up to 30% better energy efficiency compared to other 28nm chips. The mobile processor features eight Cortex-A53 cores, ticking at 2.0 GHz. Helio P10 supports Full HD displays, as well as the MiraVision 2.0, UltraDimming, and BluLight Defender technologies. Also possible with this chip is LTE Cat 6 connectivity, which can ensure high connection speeds. Additionally, this chip can operate with up to 21MP cameras and allows Full HD video recording. Additionally, Xperia XA features a Mali-T860 GPU, ticking at 700 MHz, and 2 GB of RAM. You can find more information about Helio P10 on MediaTek’s official website: http://mediatek-helio.com/p10/

The internal storage of this device is 16 GB, 7.5 GB of which are occupied by system and additional files. Nonetheless, you can expand via the microSD card slot, which supports up to 256 GB.

CPU

Geekbench 3.0 is Primate Labs cross-platform processor benchmark which simulates real-world scenarios and gives a combined score, based on the results of integer, floating point and memory performance.

GPU

The T-Rex 2.7 test is based on ES 2.0/GL 3.0 and includes highly detailed textures, materials, complex geometry, particles with animated textures and a post-process motion blur effect. The graphics pipeline also features planar reflections, specular highlights and soft-shadows.

In this test, 3DMark’s Unlimited engine uses a fixed frame interval and renders exactly the same frames in every run on every device. The frames are rendered in 720p "offscreen" while the display is updated with small frame thumbnails every 100 frames to indicate progress.

Temperatures and comfort

In the past, we’ve seen other Sony models seriously overheat after continuous workload, and Xperia XA is no exception. Whether it’s because of the mobile CPU or other reasons, the smartphone can become really hot if you get carried away with a game, for instance. We did something similar, as our test consisted of 3D gaming for several hours, simulated with the help of the Epic Citadel app. Immediately after it, we measured the maximum temperatures in three sections of the smartphone’s back. It was in the camera area that we registered the maximum temperature of 51.4 degrees Celsius, which is one of the highest values we’ve ever observed. The mid section was a bit cooler – 47.9 degrees, and the lowest section – 41.5 degrees.

Camera

Xperia XA features a 13MP main camera with LED flash, Sony IMX258 Exmor RS sensor, and f/2.0 maximum aperture. The camera has hybrid autofocus which allows capturing moving subjects. As far as the front camera is concerned, it is 8MP and Sony claims that t is good for selfies in low light. Both cameras are capable of Full HD video recording. We should again note that there is a hardware camera button that allows you to quickly launch the camera and take pictures.

Furthermore, the camera menu offers a good number of modes and effects but you must also bear in mind that some of them can lead to overheating. The manual mode may appeal to amateur photographers because it features different scenes and manually adjustable settings such as white balance, ISO and others. Also available are Panorama, Face in picture – engages both cameras simultaneously, Sound Photo – take a photo with background sound, AR effects – take photos and videos with virtual scenes and characters, Creative effect for more artistic shots, and Style portrait for fascinating effects in selfie shots.

Modes and settings

Test shots

Night shots

Video

Verdict

Sony Xperia XA is one of the most stylish smartphones on the market, and this is due to its ultra thin side bezels. It also has a 5-inch HD display, and even though you can find such screens in phones that are 50% cheaper, we can’t say that it is a drawback because it offers a good image detail, colors and viewing angles. Nonetheless, if we compare it to Xperia X, you will certainly notice a difference in this respect. What’s more, the battery life on this device is quite poor, but the quick charging and power saving modes seem to compensate for this to a certain extent.

The UI that comes on top of Android 6.0 Marshmallow is nice and light. It brings some small novelties and useful pre-installed apps. This was the first time we’d tested the MediaTek’s Helio P10 chip, and we remained happy with its CPU and GPU performance, as most of its results surpass the competition. What’s unpleasant here is the excessive exterior overheating after continuous workloads.

If you want to learn more about Sony Xperia XA’s price and availability, you can visit the following link: http://amzn.to/29PlHyU

Cons

Comments

Another failed device by Sony. Pathetic battery life results and overheating like previous Sony phones. The camera is mediocre due to their poor software optimization. They supply camera sensors to other manufactures but fail to deliver in software like they do in hardware.